Shepard's Steadiness
by GuileandGall
Summary: Of all the things to remain static over the years, neither Kaidan nor Shepard imagined it would be six simple words—you want me to do what? Posted as part of Mass Effect Writer Circle


**Summary:** Of all the things to remain static over the years, neither Kaidan nor Shepard imagined it would be six simple words—you want me to do what?

 **a/n:** Inspired by a prompt from painterofhorizons: "You want me to do what?" Posted as part of Mass Effect Writer Circle

 **Shepard** **'s Steadiness**

 **-1-**

There was one question that Kaidan Alenko found himself asking a lot more often after he had been assigned to Nyx Shepard's command. Perhaps in part the question sprang up because of the feelings he developed for her, but given that their squad mates asked similar questions he knew it couldn't only be his growing affection for his commanding officer that prompted the inquiries, especially in the heat of battle.

Her breathing came hard and fast, ringing in his ears with the same clarity as the weapons' fire pinging off the rock of the canyon and the metal of the containers that lined her escape route.

"Whose got eyes?" Kaidan barked into the comms, hoping someone had eyes on her and whoever was taking shots at her.

Garrus rumble vibrated. "No sight line."

"That's one hell of an entourage you got there, Shepard," Wrex growled with a hearty chuckle. The krogan wasn't too far from Kaidan and he peeked over his over to see if he could see her.

"They do look awfully pissed, Shepard," the turian replied.

"Alenko," the commander called out over the comms, ignoring the other chatter of their teammates.

His muscles stiffened at the tone in her voice. "Commander?"

"Give me a target."

"Come again?"

"If that's you up the canyon, tucked behind that boulder that looks like a drunk krogan vomiting?" she said, each of her heavy breaths echoing within his helmet. "Step out of cover."

"You want me to do what?"

"Stand up, Lieutenant!"

There was no shred of doubt that it was an order. Before giving it too much thought, Kaidan tapped his omni-tool to set his tech armor, then stood up and stepped away from the low rock. He only just caught sight of her, running at a full sprint. Then his ears almost popped. The clap of a biotic explosion was followed by alarms in his suit clanging a warning to tell him his shields were completely down. Before it all caught up to him, he felt himself bounce off the nearby rocks.

"Thanks, Lieutenant." Shepard blinked up at him from behind her visor. Her hands on his arms, steadying him.

With a glance past her, he realized she'd manhandled him back behind cover after having charged him from more nearly a hundred yards.

"Time to go, Shepard," Wrex called out, walking backward toward them and firing his shotgun in the direction of the guys who'd been chasing her.

"Yep, sounds like," she agreed. She ducked a little when a few shots ricocheted off the walls of the thin canyon. Small shards of rock trickled to the ground around them as she pushed Kaidan's shoulder to get him in front of her.

When the pressure eased, he glanced back and noticed she was waiting on the krogan.

"Move it, Wrex!"

He just growled at her, but turned and lumbered past her position. She pulled two grenades from her belt and tugged the pins. After giving them a soft roll along the mostly smooth ground she sprinted toward her crew once again. Screams punctuated the explosion and the tumbling of rocks.

"Well, that's one way to handle that," Wrex said as they hurried to rendezvous with Garrus and the Normandy.

"Yeah, well sometimes I manage a good idea or three," Nyx replied with a bright tone in her voice despite the fatigue that seemed to seep through.

 **-2-**

Even years later, after hundreds of hours of combat experience together she could still bring that same question to Alenko's lips. And truth be told, she loved hearing that hint of surprise in his voice whenever she managed to trigger it.

The Cerberus troops had dug themselves in thickly among the toppled walls and debris, but the pair of human Spectres had managed to pick them off with some careful shooting and timing their biotics with one another. A centurion, however, was proving both pesky and far cleverer than his fellows. Rather than waiting for him to be reinforced, the reinstated commander presented an idea that might just do the trick.

Shepard pressed her back against the wall, her head tilting away from a burst of concrete that shattered just behind her as she reloaded her pistol.

"You want me to do what?" Kaidan replied loudly, firing a quick burst through the window, just as the operative took cover again. The sturdy barrier gave him far better cover than the shelled building Alenko and Shepard were holed up in.

"Did I stutter?"

"No, but you've got to be kidding me."

"Oh, come now," she replied, a mischievous purr in her voice. Kaidan looked up at her, and the look on her face … well, it was safe to say that looks like that had no place on the battlefield. "You'd make such tempting bait. Just toss on a barrier, wink at the big guy, and lead him on a little. Don't worry, I won't let him have his way with you."

Kaidan laughed and shook his head as he knelt against the low wall. "Damnit, Shepard."

Nyx chuckled lightly when she heard the distinctive sound of his biotics and felt that little tug he'd identified for her years ago, when he passed her she took up his old position at the window trading the pistol for her shotgun as she waited.

Alenko didn't run out all gung ho, he made it look good, like he was trying to creep up on the centurion's position. The Spectre's movement through the field of fire did not go unnoticed. The Cerberus agent peeked a few times, then stood and took aim as Kaidan ran in a crouch toward a bit of rubble.

"Your mistake," she whispered when her target got to his feet.

The thunderous clap of a biotic discharge marked her arrival, which was punctuated by a shotgun blast that shattered his face plate. Shepard looked down at the gray, black, and red mush that had been his head. Those darker streaks of color only serving to remind her of the lengths Cerberus was willing to go to further the Illusive Man's agenda. It made her stomach churn, but not only for the obvious reason; a darker question sat nestled in the back of her head—burrowed there—a question Alenko had asked on Mars and one Nyx didn't have an answer to. She couldn't shake that question loose no matter how hard she tried; it always loomed there in the background. But she didn't have time to dwell on it then.

"Nice moves," Kaidan said as he jogged to her side. His voice pulled her out of her head, and drew her attention to him.

"What'd I tell you?" she chided, giving him a sweet smile and a wink. "Virtue still intact."

"Well, in this sense at least."

There was a glint in his eyes, one that hit her in the chest like a charging krogan. But this wasn't the time or place for that. They had a mission to complete. Nyx bumped his arm with her shoulder, her demeanor shifting back to complete professionalism. "Now, let's clear the rest of this place."


End file.
